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Beautiful Buttes

Oct 13, 2015

Slim Buttes is a mix of badlands, ponderosa pine forest and mesas surrounded by West River grasslands. It runs 40 miles north-to-south and is just 20 miles wide. Most travelers only see the buttes as they climb the high hill east of Buffalo on Highway 20. Looming south of the highway are the Castles, twin white buttes that look like royal ruins. Most of the other peaks and promontories have names, too. Ranchers dubbed one formation The Seals, and another Three sisters. Official names include Doc Hodge Draw, Adam and Eve Butte, Battleship Rock and Government Rock, the highest point. Photos by Christian Begeman.